Studies on Diatoms along the South West Coast of India in Relation to the Hydrological Parameters

The main objective of the study was primarily to determine the effect of hydrographical parameters especially nutrients which were supplied externally to the seawater while culturing the diatom Chaetoceros calcitrans, under laboratory conditions, and to determine its optimum concentration for ideal growth of the culture, in such a condition of increased rate of pollution due to the industrialization and effluents. Also an attempt was made to study the possible correlation of diatom abundance in the South west Coast of India with the landings of the pelagic fishery resources, especially sardine, mackerel and anchovy, since these fishes are largely diatom feeders. Positive correlation was found between the diatoms and pelagic fish landings of Thalassery and Vizhinjam area while at Cochin there was less significant correlation between the two variables

Microalgae in the Southwest Coast of India

Department of Marine Biology, Microbiology and Biochemistry, Cochin University of Science and Technology

Further studies on the process of coastal upwelling along the south west coast of India - possible correlations with biological productivity

An attempt is made to study the possible relationship between the process of upwelling and zooplankton biomass in the shelf weters along the south west coast of India between Cape comorin and Ratnagiri based on oceanographic and Zooplankton data collected by the erstwhile FAO/UNDP Pelagic Fishery Project,Cochin between 1973 and 1978. Different factors such as the depth from which the bottom waters are induced upwards during the process of upwelling,the depth to which the bottom waters are drawn, vertical velocity of upwelling and the resultant zooplankton productivity were considered while arriving at the deductions. Except for nutrients and phytoplankton productivity, for which simultaneous data is lacking, all the major factors were taken into consideration before cocluding- xon positive/negative correlation.

Variations on the infaunal polychaetes due to bottom trawling along the inshore waters of Kerala (south-west coast of India)

Variations of the infaunal polychates populations due to bottom trawling were studied during December 2000 to November 2002 at depth ranging from 0-50 m along Cochin-Munambam area (Kerala, long. 76degree10'94" to 75degree 56' and lat.9degree58' to 10degree10'), in the southwest coast of India.Infaunal polychaetes from the sediment samples were collected both before and after experimental trawling in order to assess the variations on their abundance (no.m-2),biomass(g.m-2) and diversity due to bottom trawling .Highest variations in polychaetes were recorded at station 9 in May 2002 where polychaete abundance increased to 20710 no.m-2 after trawling from 2787 no.m-2 before trawling.Biomass showed highest variations at station 3 in December 2000 where biomass increased from 7.16g.m-2 recorded before trawling to 34.53 g.m-2 in the samples collected after trawling .Multivariate community analysis carried out based on both species abundance and biomass of plychaetes also confirm the wide variations in the similarities of the stations comparing both before and after trawling

Ecobiogeography, Spatial and Temporal Variations of Microzooplankton Along the East Coast of India

In the present study an attempt has been made to understand the microzooplankton community along the easr coast of India. Most of the earlier studies projected Bay of Bengal as an oligotrophic system where phytoplankton growth is limited by a number of factors among which nutrients are the foremost. Hence it is logical to consider that the most of the primary production in the Bay of Bengal could be contributed by small sized phytoplankton harnessing the available resources, which in turn can be utilized effiency by the microzooplankton only. Hence microzooplankton could play in transferring primary organic carbon to higher tropic levels in this region.

BIOCHEMICAL GENETIC STUDIES ON THE OIL SARDINE, Sardinella longiceps (CUVIER AND VALENCIENNES, 1847) FROM SELECTED CENTRES OF THE WEST COAST OF INDIA

The main objective of the present investigation was to study the biochemical genetic variability within the species and genetic structure of its regional populations from west coast. Realising the recent report of occurrence of oil sardine fishery in east coast of India, population samples from Mandapam and Madras were also included in the present investigation. The original data gathered on the population genetics of the species have helped to interpret and evaluate the results objectively. The important conclusions drawn from a detailed discussions on the subject would throw some light on the probable process of problematic fluctuations in the abundance of oil sardine fishery of India. The academic and applied values of present discoveries need not be emphasised. The data used for the doctoral thesis were generated during the ICAR ad-hoc project on the "Population genetic studies on oil sardine, sardinella longiceps to identity distinct genetic stocks", carried out at CMFRI, Cochin during the years, 1988-1991